Reckson Rejects Icahn, Backs SL Green
Real estate investment trust Reckson Associates RealtyTuesday rejected a takeover bid from billionaire Carl Icahn, favoring a competing bid from SL Green Realty.
Reckson issued a statement saying the independent directors of its board had determined that Icahn's bid raised "significant financial and legal issues."
The latest offer from Icahn amounted to $4.3 billion, composed of $1 billion in cash and $3.3 billion worth of shares in American Real Estate Partners LP, of which Icahn owns about 90%.
Reckson said the shares offered could be worth substantially less, reducing the overall value of the deal. It is now going ahead with a special shareholder meeting on Wednesday to vote on the offer from SL Green, worth about $3.8 billion.
Icahn last week had two partners for his bid, Mack-Cali Realtyand real estate investor Harry Macklowe, but both backed out over the weekend.
Uniondale, N.Y.-based Reckson owns office buildings in the New York, Connecticut and New Jersey area near New York City. Among its properties is 1350 Avenue of the Americas, which has tenants such as Harper Collins and Burberry.
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Shares of South Korean tobacco firm KT&G skidded on news U.S. investor Carl Icahn has sold his stake in the company at a discount.
Sources familiar with the deal said Mr. Icahn sold 7 million shares of the company at 60,700 won a share, a 3.8% discount to the stock's closing price on Monday. This values the deal at 424.9 billion won ($458 million).
Mr. Icahn had widely been expected to sell out of KT&G after the company said it would return up to $2.9 billion to shareholders under pressure from Mr. Icahn and one-time ally Warren Lichtenstein.
The news of the sale, which a source familiar with the deal said took place before Tuesday's Korean market open, sent KT&G shares down by more than 4%, a day after the stock hit a record.
